I’ve been idly considering putting together a “World That Time Forgot” hack of AW, inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Arthur Conan Doyle et al’s pulp fiction of primal lands, savage people and dinosaurs… I figured that it’s at the opposite end of civilisation from AW, and suffers from similar scarcity, savagery, and dangers.
So far I’m just brainstorming a list of potential playbooks, including:
Thunder Hunter – specialises in hunting megafauna.
Beast-Dancer – trains large dangerous pets.
Archer – hunts at a distance, from the shadows.
Shaman – wields spiritual influence.
Chieftain – responsible for the tribe.
Lorekeeper – draws on tribal and ancestral memories.
??? – gathering and scouting.
Warrior – specialised in fighting other people.
Trapper – sets snares, pits, logfalls, builds stuff.
Does this sound like an interesting exercise to anyone else? Can anyone suggest other playbooks that might be interesting, or offer suggestions about the spread I have now?
Don’t forget, their world needs to be somehow circumscribed. There’s an edge to their map.
Ah, well that may be true if it’s actually a Lost World, but I was possibly leaning more towards a “Primal Fantasy” – like the prehistory of a sword-and-sorcery world. But it might make an interesting theme to circumscribe the world. To me, though, it feels like finding out What Lies Beyond might spoil the magic.
A Primal Fantasy game would just have their be nothing off the edge of their map. Plenty of terrain, creatures, and retraces, but nobody else. Until the third or fourth novel when you introduce another civilization to keep things fresh anyway.
Fabio Succi Cimentini
Craig, I’m excited. Keep us posted as you go.
Sure will do! It’s on the back-burner of my brain at the moment, but I think it’s something I will develop at some stage.
I came up with some stats, but I’m a bit worried they’re too similar to AW’s. I guess the fact that the worlds are so similar may lead to similar stats.
– Savage (brutal, violent)
– Wild (instinctive, unrestrained)
– Draw/Allure? (personality, charisma)
– Keen (senses, intellect)
– Lore (connection to the ancestors)
I’ve revised the stat list a little. In alphabetical order, there’s…
Fierce – force of personality, will, persuasiveness.
Keen – senses, intellect, insight, forethought.
Primal – connection to the spirits and the dawn-time.
Savage – violence, brutality, fighting, brawn.
Wild – reflexes, acting without thought or inhibition.
Fierce replaces Allure, as it didn’t fit the same form (you’re savage, you’re wild, you’re allur…ing – which is too long). Not sure it’s a perfect term, as it’s also meant to cover manipulation and seduction, but then again…
Also, for those who are following this post more than the AW group in general, I made a blog post preview of the Feral playbook: http://powerframe-rpg.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/primal-fantasy-feral-preview.html